'Historic Moment' for America’s Horses, As New Amendment Aims To Completely Outlaw Their Slaughter For Human Consumption

Jul 17

Congress given a 'prime opportunity' to finally close a legal loophole that has allowed over one million American horses to be trucked across state lines to their deaths.

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a significant amendment that could spare American horses from the slaughterhouse once and for all.

While the slaughter of horses for human consumption in America has been banned since 2007, a loophole means that thousands of horses are trucked across state lines to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico every year.

In fact, more than 1.4 million domestic and wild horses have been sent to foreign slaughterhouses since the last American plant closed down.

Now, this latest bipartisan amendment prohibits the transport of horses in America for the purpose of slaughter, and so campaigners are hopeful that the trade can finally be shut down for good.

"This is a historic moment for the protection of America's horses", said Cathy Liss, president of the American Welfare Institute. "Congress now has a prime opportunity to expressly prohibit the movement of horses to slaughter, safeguarding horse welfare and public health."

The loophole has been exploited by so-called 'kill-buyers', who buy horses with the sole intention of sending them to slaughterhouses abroad. Kill-buyers attend horse auctions, where they often outbid re-homing groups and charities, while they also pose as genuine adopters when owners can no longer look after them.

The Problems with Kill-Buyers

Horses have even been stolen from their stalls or pastures, while federal programs, such as the $1,000 incentives offered by the Bureau of Land Management to those adopting mustangs, have been exploited by kill-buyers. "The program is being abused for profit ... and has instead driven countless wild horses to slaughter across our borders", said Ashley Avis, director of Disney's new 'Black Beauty' film, and president of the Wild Beauty Foundation.

Tragically, a 2017 study found that over two million Americans had the desire, and means, to adopt a horse.

Once the horses are in the possession of kill-buyers, their nightmare begins. "The entire slaughter pipeline is rife with cruelty", explains Allondra Stevens, of Horses for Life Foundation.

"The brutality of horse slaughter knows no bounds", said Debbie Coburn, founder of Four Corners Equine Rescue. "I've been rescuing horses for 17 years in New Mexico and it's business as usual to eyewitness the horrific conditions and treatment the horses are subjected to."

The animals are forced into unsafe, overcrowded trailers, and without access to food or water. Many of them suffer exhaustion and dehydration during the long-haul journeys.

Such is the overcrowding, and the thousands of miles to be travelled, the horses are often injured or even killed en route.

Traffic accidents are not uncommon, and as recently as October last year, 14 horses died, and 11 suffered horrific injuries, when the truck driving them to slaughter crashed on a highway in Franklin County, Missouri.

If they do make it to their destination, the horses face a torturous death in the slaughterhouses. It is estimated that 70,000 American horses are transported to Canada and Mexico each year, with the meat sold across Asia and Europe.

The amendment was led by Representative Troy Carter, D-LA., who said that this issue is "something Americans agree on", and that "it's time to turn that agreement to action and fully ban the transportation of horses for slaughter".

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